Your Guide to Financial Clarity
David
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Posts by David
Opinion First Justification Second
16 years ago
in Psychology
At the heart of these two studies (Choice Blindness, Secret Attitude Changes) is the fact that we seem to have opinions first and then our brains come up with the justification for those opinions with little historical awareness of how our opinions may have changed over time.
Pursuing a Balanced Life
16 years ago
in Psychology
Hubert’s Rampersad’s personal balanced scorecard helps keep your life in balance.
Internal: your physical health and mental state
External: relations with your spouse, children, friends, employer, colleagues, and others
Knowledge and learning: your skills and learning ability
Financial: fiscal [...]
Countrywide Offering 5.45% 6 Month CD
16 years ago
in Investing
In Countrywide’s desperation for deposits they are offering 5.45% for 6 month CDs. As long as you keep your principal and interest under the FDIC limits this is a pretty good deal with mostly administrative risk (i.e., waiting a few days for FDIC payment if they go under).
Annual Purchase Limit For Savings Bonds Reduced to $5,000
17 years ago
in Investing
Treasury Direct announced that they are dropping the Savings Bond purchase limit from $30K/year to $5K/year. This limit applies separately to paper and electronic Savings Bonds and to each social security number, so a couple could purchase up to $20K total (each of them $5K of paper and $5K of [...]
2008 Mileage Rate 50.5 Cents per Mile
17 years ago
in Tax
The IRS has announced the 2008 mileage rates for businesses and charities.
Longevity Insurance
17 years ago
in Insurance, Retirement
Jim Miller provides an overview of longevity insurance. It is basically an immediate annuity that doesn’t start paying until around age 85.
These products are still new so I’m not confident that pricing has stabilized yet (i.e., enough competition to ensure you are getting your money’s worth). [...]
State by State Asset Protection
17 years ago
Jay Adkisson’s site lists the state protections provided to Qualified plans, IRAs, Roth IRA, homesteads, life insurance and annuities.
Refinance Tax Trap
17 years ago
in Tax
With the increase in home prices over the last decade a lot of people have taken out home equity loans or refinanced. What many people may not be aware of is if their new loan balance (primary and home equity combined) is more than $100K over their original loan amount (right before any [...]
Study Says Most People are Saving Enough for Retirement
17 years ago
in Retirement
Scot Burns addresses a recent study (pdf) which estimates that 84.4% of people are saving enough for retirement.
You can skip over the math. The text has all kinds of fascinating statistics like whether peoples perception of their longevity affects their savings (no), or whether their desire to [...]
Who Earns the Most
17 years ago
From a recent paper examing high income earners we get the following interesting statistic “..the top 25 hedge fund managers combined appear to have earned more than all 500 S&P 500 CEOs combined (both realized and estimated).”